What’s New in Oracle AI? October 2026 Edition

Oracle AI World is right around the corner, and we’re gearing up for a big October. Before we head to Las Vegas, catch up on the latest OCI Enterprise AI updates from last month, including new Grok models, Smart Model Router, model discovery, and expanded Model Import options. Then, get ready for AI World with our recommended sessions and a hands-on hackathon where you can put OCI AI capabilities to work.

New updates and features:

xAI Grok 4.6 and Grok 4.7 now available in OCI Enterprise AI

xAI Grok 4.6 and Grok 4.7 are now available for on-demand inference in OCI Enterprise AI. The models are designed for coding, agentic tasks, reasoning, and knowledge work, giving customers access to xAI’s latest capabilities without having to manage the underlying infrastructure. 

These additions give organizations more choice when matching models to complex workloads and make it easier to evaluate the latest xAI models alongside other models available in OCI Enterprise AI.

Learn more about Grok 4.6 and Grok 4.7

Smart model router simplifies cross-region AI inference

OCI Enterprise AI now offers Smart Model Router, which routes on-demand inference requests across customer-selected OCI regions where a model is available. Customers create a routing profile that defines the model and approved regions, then use that profile with the Chat API or Responses API. 

For customers running AI applications at scale, this can help applications access available model capacity across approved regions without requiring teams to build and maintain their own cross-region routing logic. Customers remain in control of the regional scope in which inference can occur. 

Learn more: Smart Model Router

Model discovery makes it easier to find the right model

OCI Enterprise AI now supports Model Discovery, giving developers API access to discover models available in a specific region and retrieve details such as capabilities, input and output types, serving options, supported parameters, and retirement dates. Instead of relying on manually maintained model lists or configurations, developers can programmatically discover available models and use that information when building applications, making it easier to adapt as new models and capabilities become available.

Learn more: Model Discovery

More models available through Model Import

OCI Enterprise AI continued to expand Model Import in September, adding support for models from Alibaba, DeepSeek, Google, and Z.ai. New additions include:

• Alibaba Qwen3.8-27B and Qwen3.5-397B-A17B
• DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 and DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
• Google Gemma 4 31B IT and Gemma 4 26B A4B IT
• Z.ai GLM-5.3 and GLM-5.3-Flash 

The expanding catalog gives customers more options for choosing models based on the capabilities, performance, and economics required by each workload, rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach to model selection.

Explore models available for import: Models for Import

OCI Responses API adds support for imported models

The OCI Responses API can now call select models deployed through Model Import, beginning with Alibaba Qwen3.6-35B-A3B and Google Gemma 4 31B IT. Customers first import and host the model on a compatible dedicated AI cluster and can then access it through the Responses API. 

This gives developers a more consistent API experience across OCI Enterprise AI model options and makes it easier to incorporate imported models into applications that already use the Responses API.

Learn more: ⁠Imported models with the OCI Responses API

More granular model access controls with OCI IAM

Customers can now use OCI Identity and Access Management (IAM) policies to control which OCI Enterprise AI models different groups can invoke. Policies can allow specific model IDs or patterns or exclude selected models, providing more granular control over model access. 

This helps organizations apply model level access controls—for example, controlling which teams can use particular models based on organizational requirements—while using the familiar OCI IAM framework they already use to manage cloud access.

Learn more: ⁠Limiting model access with IAM policies

Cohere multimodal models expand to Dubai

Cohere Command A Vision and Cohere Embed 4 are now available for on-demand inference in the UAE East (Dubai) region and are also available through dedicated AI clusters there. 

The expanded regional availability gives customers in the region more options for running multimodal AI workloads closer to their applications and data, including use cases involving image and text understanding and multimodal embeddings.

Learn more: ⁠Cohere model availability in Dubai

New resources for AI at OCI:

Build with Oracle AI at the Oracle AI World Hackathon

Put your ideas into action at a four-hour, team-based hackathon on Sunday, October 25 at the Venetian Hotel. Attendees will use OCI capabilities across AI, data, application development, and cloud-native services to build a working application that solves a business problem, tackles an everyday challenge, or creates something entirely new—with Oracle AI and OCI experts available throughout the event for mentoring and lightning talks.

Whether you want to experiment with AI that can reason, remember, retrieve information, use tools, and take action, or bring your own creative approach, this is an opportunity to get hands-on with Oracle technology and turn an idea into a working application.

Event details: Sunday, October 25 | 1–5 p.m. | Venetian Hotel

Sign up here

Recommended AI World sessions:

Looking for even more ways to dive into AI at Oracle AI World? We’ve rounded up a few recommended sessions covering the latest OCI AI innovations, practical use cases, and strategies to help you get more from your AI investments.

For more Oracle AI news: What’s New in Oracle AI? September 2026 Edition